Christians do this quite often. Probably because they think that's what Jesus would say or would want them to say. It's a nice bit of role playing.
Personally i find it to be rather disappointing. I believe they are devaluing love by using the word where it does not belong. I also believe they are being deceptive... trying to trick me into a false sense of security so that I will listen to whatever garbage they have to say.
Christians will defend this abuse of the word love by offering their religious definitions of love, such as the type of love that does not require the building of a relationship before it can exist. However, their understanding of love seems to be quite lacking when they can defend and serve a god who punishes people for eternity because of a decision he disagrees with. If this creature is willing to give me an infinte punishment for a finite "crime", it does not know the same love that I know for my family.
2007-10-02 08:47:09 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Michael F, no they actually let me go out in public every other Tuesday (with a chaperone of course). Today I am broadcasting from my local library. Do you order your lame sarcastic comments through the mail or do you come up with them all by yourself?
2007-10-02 08:54:59 · update #1
beta_fis... , perhaps you misunderstood the tone of my message. Or maybe you just think you are funny. I guess I'm not laughing because your joke doesn't really apply here. ZOMG! I LOVE U IN CHRIST ANYWAYZ BRUTHER!!
2007-10-02 09:06:48 · update #2
I take it as a compliment, even if I know that the person is using the term superficially. After all, it's preferable to hearing someone say that they hate me. Where I live, it's not uncommon to get hugs from people I don't know, and for people to say "Love you!" as something bordering on a casual greeting. I take it in stride. It may be superficial, but it's not harming me in any way.
2007-10-02 08:52:31 · answer #1 · answered by solarius 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Everyone has a different definition of what love actually is. To you it seems to be a deep understanding and feeling about someone that you know very well. To others it is someone that they enjoy being around, and in this case it sounds like they simply care about you. In the Spanish language, that is why they have 3 different words for love. I'm not one to say "I love you" to people that I barely know, but if I have a general feeling of compassion and care for them I really can't say I don't love them. For a lot of Christians I think they are just expressing the later, that they care for you, even if they do not know you very well.
2007-10-02 15:56:39 · answer #2 · answered by Ferosia 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think it de-values the phrase because they over use it and it becomes common and less special than it should be.
I only say the phrase when I really mean it and I don't say it to complete strangers. To hear a stranger say that to me just makes me silently ask "Why" since they don't even know about me and haven't taken the time to. It really is to make them more feel more comforted than the recipient.
2007-10-02 15:54:13 · answer #3 · answered by genaddt 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, I agree with you that if it's used superficially, it cheapens the meaning.
However, when I tell someone I love them, I mean it. Even if I don't know them. I don't feel I HAVE to, in order to love someone. I love people because...they're people. I truly love humankind, even despite our idiosyncrasies. Or maybe it's BECAUSE of our idiosyncrasies. Hmm...
Anyway, God isn't the one who punishes people. And actually, hell is only a punishment because it's away from God, who is the source of contentment, peace, and light. So you can imagine that hell is the exact opposite of that. If it exists.
2007-10-02 16:06:42 · answer #4 · answered by The_Cricket: Thinking Pink! 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Since God IS love, and He resides IN us, I think its quite appropriate for Christians to tell anyone that they are loved.
It is the humanists that have the meaning of the word love all wrong. Love is described in the Bible quite nicely. Look it up in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13.
Love wants the best for another person...and bases his definition of Love on the One who demonstrated that love to the ENTH degree on the Cross.
I will take Gods definition of love over some warmed over version from an unbeleiver any old day.
2007-10-02 15:52:37 · answer #5 · answered by goinupru 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
If you were in a building that was on fire and some one risked their life to pull you out, they love you (without knowing you)
It's a different kind of love than the kind that comes of bonding with someone over a period of time. Christians are capable of agape love which is not on the earthly level, without knowing you..........I have been moved to tears because of God's love for a stranger flowing through me as I pray.........So anyway enough said. sorry you don't understand it.
2007-10-02 15:57:07 · answer #6 · answered by sisterzeal 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
CCC
I agree with your view.
A random Christian (pardon the phrase) who would tell me that he/she loves me via the love of Christ... yeesh. I can not buy into that. My relationship to God is mine and highly personal. No one should assume that kind of intimacy with me. Yes, I do feel the over-zealous Christian-folk may need to get a grip on that.
2007-10-02 17:00:05 · answer #7 · answered by Green is my Favorite Color 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God judges people who deserves to be judged. God does not neccessarily send people to Hell because he wants to. It is the people who choose not to be saved and wish to do evil will go to Hell. It is the people's free will to say no to eternal life. In other words, there will be some people in Hell either because they choose the offer of death, not believing and following the Devil, or they wish to keep hurting others and spreading evil. Would you want to be with these people or be with God?
Saying I love you to stangers does show God's agape love. It is the most purest and powerful form of love. Love is not devalued, it is rare and precious to have. To say I love you to people you don't know is sharing the strongest love of all.
2007-10-02 15:55:18 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
You really have alot of bitterness inside, don't you? I would suggest deep breathing exercises. In through the nose, out through the mouth, slow and deep, ten times.
EDIT: Trust me, that was no joke. I really, honestly believe that you have a lot of bitterness pent up inside you. Why else would you continue to attack people you don't know? It's sad really. As I said, slow, deep breathing can help.
2007-10-02 15:57:57 · answer #9 · answered by Open Heart Searchery 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I am filled with the urge to make them prove it.
Through the Benediction.
Vigorously.
And Repeatedly.
2007-10-02 16:34:11 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋